Quote: Cibaman "Before the club makes a decision to leave Odsal I think they need to spell out just how excessive are the maintenance costs. I've been sceptical about the argument since attending a fans forum when Caisley insisted that £10m needed to be spent immediately on the stadium in order to retain its safety certificate. 13 years on it doesn't seem that many, if any, of the essential repairs that he quoted have been carried out and we still seem to have a safety certificate.
I recall Hood referring to a burst drain that cost £30k to repair a few years ago but apart from that what indications are there that the club are spending huge amounts on the stadium?
Ironically I recently heard a Darlington football fan blame their club's demise on the huge increase in running costs after they built a shiny new stadium'"
I strongly suggest the huge costs at Darlington are probably more to do with the 'management company', no doubt set up to run the stadium at a profit, than for any actual maintenance costs. It is a fair point to bear in mind though, as a management company would probably be involved in any re-build of Odsal.
To be honest, I can't remember Caisley [iever[/i holding anything remotely like a 'fans' forum', unless that was, perhaps, his term for board meetings. Maybe the £10m was a figure he quoted in the articles in the T&A where he berated fans for not turning up in sufficient numbers? In truth, I wouldn't like to say how much has been spent on the ground, probably the minimum which kept its licence, but the problem with Odsal has always been its sheer size and the fact is you could spend an awful lot, though maybe not £10m, and hardly notice when glancing round.